


Helping

by MaryPSue



Series: Return, Rewind, Rewrite [5]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Transcendence, Gen, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 13:55:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5093264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaryPSue/pseuds/MaryPSue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alice Pines inadvertently finds herself in the role of relationship guru.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Helping

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposting some old TAU fic from tumblr.

“Alice?”

Alice Pines lowered her binoculars, looking down at the girl hiding in the bush with her. Belle was strangely quiet, looking down at the pair of binoculars clutched in her own lap. “What’s up, kiddo?”

Belle glanced up at Alice, and gave a long sigh, turning to look out through the branches of the bush they were sitting in. “We’re doing the right thing, right?”

“Are you kidding? Of course we are.” Alice raised her binoculars again, peering through them at the male figure contorted into some yoga pose or another in the park across from them, and the female figure stretching a few feet away. “This was all your idea, you can’t go getting cold feet on me now. And you know Mike, he’s totally oblivious. He won’t even realise she exists without our help, let alone notice she’s into him. It’s practically an act of charity.”

“Yeah, but…” Belle ripped a handful of grass from the ground beside her, opening her hand and watching the green blades drop onto her skirt. “What if he just isn’t interested in her? Or in girls at all? What if he’s tried to be interested in girls, but it just hasn’t happened yet? What if he’s worried that even if he met a girl who was into him, he wouldn’t be into her back, and he’ll break her heart, and it’ll mean he’s weird or frigid or -” Belle bit back the rest of the sentence.

Alice lowered her binoculars again and sat back, taking care not to get stabbed by a stray branch. “Where’s all this coming from?”

Belle didn’t answer, pulling another handful of grass out of the ground and letting it go with a sigh.

“C’mon, spill,” Alice said, hoping it sounded encouraging. “You got all that from somewhere, and somehow I don’t think it’s got anything to do with Mike’s dismal love life.”

“I just -” Belle started, throwing out both arms with a frustrated huff. “I’m  _trying,_  but boys just aren’t that interesting! And I keep thinking maybe I just haven’t met the right one yet, or maybe everybody kind of feels like this but nobody talks about it, or maybe I’m just gonna grow into it or something, but then  _when_  is it gonna happen, because all my friends do, or they  _say_  they do, and I  _know_  Ranesh totally has a crush on me but I can’t - I don’t -” She flopped over backwards with an “argh!”, only to spring abruptly back up. “Ow, these branches are really pointy.”

Alice reached out, a little hesitant, and wrapped an arm around Belle’s shoulders, partly to comfort the girl, partly to keep her from flailing around and shaking the bush any more. If anybody caught them spying on Mike’s morning exercise routine, there’d be a whole lot of explaining to do, and Alice was pretty sure the only thing worse than trying to explain what she was doing hiding in a bush spying on her uncle would be explaining why she’d skipped work to hide in a bush and spy on her uncle. “Oh, sweetie, it’s okay. You’re okay, all right? Plus, you’re thirteen. You don’t have to have it all figured out just yet.”

“I just - I don’t get it,” Belle muttered, leaning her head against Alice’s shoulder. Alice rubbed her shoulder, nodding sympathetically. Just because she herself had gotten over this particular crisis pretty quickly didn’t mean that she didn’t know what it felt like. “And all the magazines -”

“Seriously? Magazines?” Alice waved her free hand, making a dismissive noise. “Do you change over your entire wardrobe to dark neutrals every winter because the magazines say it’s on trend?”

Belle looked down at her fluorescent pink and acid green sweater, her lavender star-print leggings, and holographic silver sneakers, and then looked disbelievingly up at Alice.

“There you go,” Alice said breezily. “Just because it’s in print doesn’t mean it works for you. And don’t worry about boys. They’re all buttheads at your age anyway.” She paused, looking up through the branches to the small patch of blue sky just barely visible overhead. “Actually, they’re buttheads at every age. Don’t waste your time on boys. Plenty of other people to be interested in.”

“What, like…girls?”

“Yeah, or both, or neither, or whatever. Or nobody! Point is, only go for it if they make your tummy feel all fluttery and you really just want to spend hours looking at their dumb face.” Alice debated for a moment, before cautiously giving Belle’s arm another squeeze. “And don’t date anybody who thinks pro wrestling is real. Promise me that much.”

Belle sighed again, but it didn’t sound so upset this time. “No promises.”

“You’re a disappointment, kid,” Alice said.

Belle giggled, knocking her head gently against Alice’s shoulder. “Thanks.”

“Nuh uh. You’re gonna date a wrestling fanatic, you’re dead to me now.” Alice raised her binoculars again, pointedly ignoring Belle’s giggles. “Hey, wait, where’d she go?”

“Is…is there somebody in there?”

Both Belle and Alice froze, turning slowly to meet each other’s wide eyes. That had been their quarry’s voice, from right outside of the bush.

“Shit!” Alice hissed, grabbing her binoculars and scrambling to her feet. “Run for it!”

As they bolted out of the bush, she happened to glance over her shoulder to see Mike look up and start jogging over towards the bush - and the woman who’d scared them away. 

Alice couldn’t help but grin. So maybe this stakeout hadn’t been a complete bust, after all.

“Alice! Hurry up!”


End file.
